Kapunan admits: 'Corrupt justice' info is hearsay

by Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Atty. Lorna Kapunan refused to name the alleged "corrupt justice" of the Supreme Court (SC) who could be reportedly paid by litigants in exchange for favorable rulings, based on statements she issued in a televised interview with ABS-CBN last year.

In her 10-page compliance to the high court's order to explain her statements in an interview with ABS-CBN's Anthony Taberna in November, the former lawyer of alleged "pork barrel"scam architect Janet Lim Napoles said the information is merely "hearsay."

"This Honorable Court will please note from the replies [in that interview] that no personal accusations were made and where information on corruption and bribe money was based on hearsay and/or general knowledge within the legal circles," Kapunan said.

She also stressed that there was no intention on her part to besmirch the image of the judiciary.

"[T]he remarks made in the subject interview were not intended to insult, malign, embarrass the [Supreme] Court or bring it into disrepute," Kapunan said.

The SC ordered Kapunan to explain the statements she made in that ABS-CBN interview, where she also mentioned having received information that restraining orders before the Court of Appeals (CA) may be obtained at a price of P5 million.

Kapunan may face possible sanctions if the high court is not convinced of her explanations.

The high court is currently investigating alleged corruption in the judiciary, and created a team, led by most junior magistrate Marvic Leonen, to conduct the probe.

Leonen's committee is also zeroing in on the existence of an alleged "fixer" in the courts who goes by the name, "Ma'am Arlene."